Office of the Attorney GeneralAttorney General Greg Stumbo, the City of Florence and “Shred-It” Offer Free Shred Day in Florence

Press Release Date:

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Contact Information:

Corey Bellamy, 502-696-5643 Office

Attorney General Greg Stumbo in cooperation with the City of Florence and “Shred-it,” today is holding a free document shredding event at the Florence Government Center in an ongoing effort to crack down on consumer identity theft. Shredding services are available from 10am – 1pm

Attorney General Greg Stumbo, Florence Mayor Diane Whalen, and Greg Caudill, a representative of “Shred-it,’ kicked off the “Free ‘Shred-it’ Day” with a press conference in Florence. A mobile “Shred-it” truck was stationed in the government center’s parking lot.

“Identity theft continues to be the fastest growing white collar crime in the nation. One of the most common techniques continues to be dumpster diving where they rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with personal information on it,” said Attorney General Greg Stumbo. “This is a great opportunity for consumers to properly discard documents that contain personal identifying information such as bank account numbers, social security numbers, birth dates, pin numbers, etc. Consumers can safeguard that information by shredding it before they throw it away. Shred it and forget it.”

According to the Federal Trade Commission, as many as 10 million American consumers have been victimized by ID theft at the cost of $53 billion annually. It takes each victim an average of 30-60 hours to resolve issues resulting from identity theft.

“Issues of privacy should never be taken for granted,” said Florence Mayor Diane Whalen. “In this day of identity theft, we have to take personal responsibility to make sure that our personal information is not stolen or left unprotected. Proper destruction and disposal of that information is one way we can protect ourselves.”

Greg Caudill said, “While Shred-it is an international Information Management and Document Destruction company, we are committed to every community in which we do business. We have a focus on educating the businesses and the consumers on ways to minimize their exposure to Identity Theft. The Community Shred Day is a Community Service program that is free and one of the ways we help increase the awareness for our neighbors.”

“We appreciate the participation of the City of Florence and ‘Shred-it,” Attorney General Stumbo added. “It takes the efforts of governmental entities and good corporations stepping up to the plate to make services such as free shredding available to the public.”

The Attorney General recommends individuals contact their tax preparer or attorney to determine how long they should retain particular information.

Victims of identity theft are encouraged to obtain an “ID Theft Victims Kit” on site or from the Office of the Attorney General by contacting the Office at 1-888-432-9257 or obtaining it online at http://ag.ky.gov/consumer/.